themselves and each other for the glory of God, and singing vociferously
their melancholy dirges. These were the Flagellants, and there were
crowds of them all over Europe, the number in France alone at this time
being estimated at eight hundred thousand. One of the direct results of
this state of religious excitement was an increased interest, on the
part of women, in religious service, and a renewed desire to devote
themselves to a religious life.

The conditions of conjugal life had been such throughout the feudal
period that for many years there had been a slowly growing sentiment
that marriage was but a manner of self-abandonment to the world, the
flesh, and the devil, and many women from time to time were influenced
to put away worldly things and seek peace in the protection of some
religious order. Tertullian had long before condemned marriage, and
Saint Jerome was most bitter against it. The various abuses of the
marriage relation were such that those of pure hearts and minds could
but pause and ask themselves whether or not this was an ideal
arrangement of human life; and, all in all, there was still much to be
done by means of educational processes before men and women could lead a
life together which might be of mutual advantage to all parties
concerned. Still, it must not be supposed that this tendency on the part
of women to affiliate themselves with conventual orders was a movement
of recent origin.

Since the earliest days of Christianity women had been especially active
in the work of the Church, and there were countless martyrs among them
even as far back as the time of the Roman persecutions. In the old days
of pagan worship they had been allowed their part in religious
ceremonies, and with the development of the religious institutions of
Christendom this active participation had steadily increased. But, more
than this, when it became necessary to withdraw from the corrupt
atmosphere of everyday affairs in order to lead a good life, it came to
pass that near the dwellings of the first monks and hermits who had
sought the desert and solitude for their lives of meditation were to be
found shelters for their wives and sisters and daughters who had
followed them to their retreats to share in their holy lives.

Slowly, as in the case of the men, the conventual orders for women were
formed in these communities and regulated by such rules as seemed best
suited to their needs. At the outset it may be stated